


i will bend toward joy

by musicspeakstoo



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Curtain Fic, Domestic Bliss, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Post-Canon, minor cameos from other demigods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 22:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17252252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicspeakstoo/pseuds/musicspeakstoo
Summary: After surviving two great prophecies Percy falls in love, grows up, and learns to take the good with the bad.





	i will bend toward joy

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic I've been wanting to write for the better part of three years, and I'm so happy that I get to slide it in right under the wire of 2018. Percy means so much to me as a character and I wanted him to be able to go to college and live his life in a way that did not brush his trauma aside or ignore it. I wanted him and Annabeth and Nico to be realistic college kids in New York City and I wanted good things for all of them. I hope I have done that justice. And, in the new year, I hope we all find good things.
> 
> There's only brief mentions of some of the things Percy has gone through over the course of both book series, so I haven't tagged anything. If you would like something tagged, please let me know.
> 
> Huge huge thank you to [ reed ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/throats/pseuds/throats) for giving this a glance, it would be far worse without you. All courses mentioned in here are real courses, and their apartment is based off of a real apartment I found on the internet.
> 
> Title is from the poem "Three of Cups" by Marty McConnell.

Percy tears out of his History 101 class as soon as the professor dismisses them. Annabeth always gives him shit for skipping, even though the class is large enough that the professor doesn’t take attendance. He’s not learning much anyway. He was going to put it off until senior year but his mom intervened, telling him it would be worse if he did that. Freshman and sophomore years had been all about getting his core requirements and his language requirements out of the way so he could focus on his Environmental Science and History classes, but even those have basic classes.

He’s so preoccupied by being annoyed that he walks right by the guy in all black smoking a cigarette in front of the building with all the other kids in all black smoking cigarettes. 

This is what he gets for going to NYU. 

This particular guy in all black is wearing a leather jacket that’s a little too big for him, namely because it’s Percy’s. (It had been his and Annabeth’s sneaky way of replacing the bomber Nico’d grown out of two summers ago.)

Percy stops at the corner and turns around as quickly as he can with all the people streaming around him. Nico puts out his cigarette (Percy and Annabeth have been trying to get him to quit lately, no matter how attractive they find it) and walks toward Percy. Percy can tell by the glint in his eyes that his boyfriend is laughing at him. They don’t kiss hello or anything like that, Nico’s not really into PDA the way he and Annabeth are. 

“Hey, Seaweed Brain, your head still in the water?” Nico smirks at him.

Percy rolls his eyes, Nico had adopted Annabeth’s nickname for him before they’d even started dating and while at first he’d resisted _two_ people calling him that, eventually he learned his opinion didn’t count. 

“Sorry, just thinking about all the homework I’ve got to do tonight,” Percy replies. They turn toward the park and start walking.

It’s true, though he knows both Nico and Annabeth are sick of him complaining about this class. 

Nico laughs, “That’s what you get for double majoring, dumbass.”

Percy rolls his eyes as he checks his phone. The Athena and Hephaestion cabins had spent a year after the Battle of Manhattan figuring out a way for half-bloods to be able to use cell phones without attracting monsters and had, thankfully, succeeded. It’s been really helpful, especially with everyone scattered all over the country or — in the Stoll brothers’ case — the globe. 

By everyone, Percy really does mean _everyone_. Or close to it. He’d been popular even after the whole Kronos thing, but then saving the world again had made it double with campers from both Jupiter and Half-Blood turning to him for advice and who was he to turn them away, even if most times he didn’t do much but sit and listen to them vent.

They just miss the light at the intersection so Percy takes the opportunity to check the group chat they have for the apartment. Clarisse says that they’re out of paper towels (or, at least that’s what Percy thinks a photo of an empty paper towel roll means) and Chris says he had to stay late at work so could one of them please take out the trash even though he knows it’s his night to do it.

“Hey Nico, Chris is working a double tonight, can you take out the trash when we get home?” Percy asks, letting the car making a right turn go.

“Sure,” Nico replies.

The sun is just starting to set and Nico is caught in its dying light, with his dark clothes he reminds Percy of a smoldering ember. He grabs Nico’s hand and gives it a quick squeeze. He’s so goddamn lucky. Nico gives him a look, but the set of his mouth is fond. In this, Percy knows, he and Nico are in step. 

Being a quasi-adult is better than he could have thought back then, Percy knows that much. Between study groups for his various classes and constantly calling his mom for things like “can I put this in the dryer?” he’s learned that no one is an island, not even the twice-over subject of a prophecy. It’s still amazing that he’s here — alive! — and doing things like buying paper towels in between date nights with his boyfriend and girlfriend.

……………………………

He still remembers the day he and his mom had that huge argument about Percy and college. They were doing laundry and talking about stuff for the baby, and Percy had suggested using his college fund for her instead.

“It’s not like I’m getting in anywhere,” he had said, shrugging at her wide-eyed stare.

Sally picked up a folded blanket off the couch, shook it out, and refolded it again. Her face was tight.

“What? It’s true.” he had said, putting down the box for the crib and crossing his arms.

She continued her folding, movements sharp. “I just don’t understand why you are so convinced that you’re not going to college. And you’ve barely been trying in school, I know you’re cutting class.”

Percy groaned, “Not you too! Chiron and Annabeth have been on my case about this forever.”

She gave him a look, “Oh so now you’re ignoring their advice too? Percy, what has gotten into you lately?”

“What? Suddenly because I’m not letting other people dictate my life these days it means something’s wrong with me?”

Sally stopped folding and turned toward him, putting her arms out for a hug. “Oh, honey, no, that’s not what I meant. I’m just worried about you, college would be so good for you and you’re so smart, I don’t understand why you’re so set against it.”

He backed away from her outstretched arms.

“Well maybe I’d have my life more together if I hadn’t spent most of my teenage years thinking I would die at sixteen!”

Sally’s hands had frozen, her arms still out in front of her. They stood there, the two of them, as the weight of Percy’s words sunk in.

Percy’s mouth worked and he hung his head. “I just don’t know what to do with all this life ahead of me.”

After that fight, they had set out finding a therapist for Percy which turned out to be easier than he’d thought. A lot of half-bloods who aren’t as powerful as Percy live normal lives, some of them long enough to become therapists. Katie Gardner had recommended hers, and so Percy had gotten some help.

The Stolls had still been in the area at the time and suggested a study group. Having ADHD and dyslexia made studying less stressful when everyone else had it too. Soon they were all meeting up to discuss college applications and acceptances.

…………………………….

Annabeth has therapy today and it’s Percy’s day off so after swinging by CVS, they head straight for the subway. Though they live about a 25 minute walk from campus, they tend to favor the 7 minute subway ride. Percy’s mom gives them grief for it at every possible moment.

It had been hard at first, adjusting to the subway again, _underground_ had become synonymous with monsters _,_ the Labyrinth, Tartarus. 

But Percy’s a New Yorker, born and raised. He got over it. Annabeth bought a bike. Nico has a skateboard he prefers, despite the shit Percy gives him. Still, the subway doesn’t really bother Nico — a perk of being a child of Hades is that underground is their dad’s domain — so he’ll take it with Percy during the winter. He tends to shadow travel during the summer, when there’s a lot more people in the city and he can get away with it.

……………………………………..

One of the first people he’d given his number to once it was safe was Thalia. Cell phones aren’t really an issue for the Hunters of Artemis, who can best whatever monster a cell phone might attract. They text a lot, although about half of it is talking trash about each other’s music taste. It drives Annabeth nuts, especially because when they add Nico into the mix, things turn up a couple notches.

It’s not his or Thalia’s fault that Nico’s indie music is an easy target for mocking.

They all genuinely get along, though. Which Percy suspects is _why_ Annabeth goes crazy over them fighting. 

Every couple of months, Thalia will meet Percy and Nico for what they’ve jokingly start calling “East Coast Big Three” time and they’ll get coffee and bum around the city. If it’s nice out the night usually ends with Thalia and Percy dragging Nico out for ice cream and a pilgrimage to the Joe Strummer mural. 

All three of them get a kick out of knowing that somewhere, their dads are really confused. They’re the exception to the “children of the Big Three don’t get along” rule, and they’ve earned the right to flaunt it.

…………………………………..

Their apartment is a small two-bedroom on the Lower East Side that they share with Chris and Clarisse. 

It’s not much, but it’s got nice brickwork and it’s near a park, so it’s nicer than it could be with five people in it. Percy’s been a city kid all his life, he can’t imagine living in anything larger than a two-bedroom apartment. Sometimes his cabin at camp had had too much space. 

Initially it had just been the four of them in the apartment, but once Percy and Annabeth had been seriously dating Nico he’d been staying there so often that he’d started chipping in with the rent.

Nico used to linger after dates, suggesting another movie or instigating another round of sex. He'd always insist on going to their place, claiming an annoying roommate and a pigsty of an apartment. Whenever they had parties, Annabeth used to catch him staring around the apartment with a wistful expression on his face. 

Percy hadn’t really put much thought into it, which he feels bad about in hindsight. He really had just assumed that Nico was living in a shitty place with someone he hated and that’s why he jumped at the chance to move in with them, until Annabeth had told him that she suspected that Nico didn’t really have any other place to go.

Rachel had offered to use some of her dad’s connections to get the three of them a place they could afford, but they all know she secretly hates doing that so they’d thanked her anyway and remained in their apartment with a just-big-enough queen-sized bed.

………………………………….

A couple months after they defeat Gaea, the seven of them are sitting around a fire shooting the shit. They’ve been drinking a little, even Frank who tends to be wary around alcohol, when Jason asks, “Hey, Percy, of the two major evil deities you’ve fought which would you fight again?”

It takes a moment for Percy to register what he’s being asked. First off, he’s pretty drunk but the other is that Jason’s worded it in a confusing way. 

_Names have power._

Percy can still hear his mother telling him this, even after all this time.

“Definitely Gaea,” he replies.

The others twitch and Percy only momentarily feels bad. He can see why they’d be nervous but Percy’s weighed the consequences on the matter and decided that there’s enough leeway for him to be an impertinent shit.

“Why?” Piper asks, “After everything she’s put you through: taking your memory, separating you and Annabeth, she’s the reason you ended up in Tartarus!”

“I’m with Piper,” Leo chimes in. “I’d take the other guy over evil mother earth any day!”

“Yes, okay, all of that is true.” Percy takes another sip of his drink, preparing himself for what he has to say. 

“But the thing is, as shitty as it is to say, Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood had been feuding for years. Gaea relied on that, used it as a battle strategy. Kronos…..” he trails off.

“I should’ve known,” Hazel sighs. “Nico mentioned your fatal flaw is personal loyalty. Of course having to fight your friends would be an experience you wouldn’t want to repeat.”

She’s right, of course. He’ll be hearing Silena Beauregard’s dying admission in his nightmares for the rest of his life. But it’s not just about that.

It’s about how Annabeth still cries out Luke’s name in her sleep, tears running down her face. About the look on Luke’s face as he talked about tearing Olympus down stone by stone. It’s also Luke begging him to remember all of the forgotten demigods. It’s about fucking Ethan Nakamura. 

It’s about how he heard Kronos’s voice like a siren call in his dreams for months as a 12-year-old, newly claimed demigod. 

Not only did Kronos take so many lives by twisting their minds but he’s also responsible for so many of Percy’s friends dying. Charles Beckendorf. Zoë Nightshade. Even poor Bianca di Angelo. 

People who never would have died if they hadn’t been caught in the crossfire. 

One thing Percy’s learned about his fatal flaw that the others might not be able to see is that it taps into his anger. Kronos scares him shitless, even as far away from a return as he is, but the thought of him also makes Percy’s hands curl into fists.

Percy’s been called troubled his whole life but it wasn’t until Tartarus that he realized that _angry_ might be a better term. For as long as Percy can remember there’s been a pit in his stomach and picking a fight with him always required little provocation.

He’s no kid of Ares, his temper isn’t his fatal flaw — it’s certainly not helped him but he’s not unleashing it on everyone he meets. Very few ever really felt the full force of his anger but come for the people who matter most to him and you’ve got yourself one dangerous enemy. 

He gives Hazel a ‘you got me’ smile he doesn’t mean and waits for the conversation to move on before draining his beer and walking off into the darkness.

……………………………………

The thing about half-bloods, or at least the group that Percy trained and fought and grew up with, is that they’ve all been dating the same people they’ve known for years. Clarisse and Chris. Hazel and Frank. Hell, even Grover and Juniper. 

His therapist says it’s partly a trauma response, the urge to seek out the familiar, since she’s the expert Percy figures she’s probably right. He’s known Annabeth since he was twelve and has been dating her for five years; the two of them have known Nico for nearly as long as they’ve known each other, and the three of them have been dating for nearly three years.

He’s got a ring for Annabeth in, predictably, his sock drawer hiding beneath his and Nico’s socks and underwear, just waiting for the right moment. Percy had been planning to ask her before Nico came back into Percy’s life and slotted right in to his and Annabeth’s relationship. Once he’d admitted that to Nico, the other boy had been surprisingly enthusiastic at the idea of them getting married.

“Look,” Nico had said, turning to look at Percy, drying off the dishes they’d left in the sink the night before. He’s going to get water on the floor and then Clarisse is going to kill them, Percy thinks. 

Nico puts the bowl on the drying rack, steadying it when it starts to slip, “You two were always going to get married, I promise I’m not going to feel left out because I don’t get a ring. You guys know I love you, I know you guys love me, and anyone who really matters knows that too.” 

Nico finishes washing the last few things in the sink while Percy digests this. He tosses the towel on the counter before coming over to where Percy’s sitting and giving him a kiss. 

“I don’t need the whole wedding thing, but I get why you and Annabeth would.”

Percy says a prayer to Aphrodite every night. The bottle of rose oil had been expensive, but it’s worth it when he pours it into the little patch of dirt that the myrtle grows in as a thank you. He also got a ring for Nico anyway.

………………………………..

“I just don’t know if these will work,” Annabeth says, frowning at the material she’s holding in her hands.

Percy and Nico share a look and Percy fights back the matching set to the sigh Nico lets out.

“Babe,” Percy says, in a placating tone, “we said we’d take it to a vote and we did. I know you want there to be a coherent color scheme to our room and I understand that.” He pauses at the look on Annabeth’s face but an elbow from Nico gets him going again, “but these curtains are really cool, they’ll match the rest of our bed stuff, and they’re blackout like we wanted so can we please _please_ just get them and go eat?”

She gives him an annoyed look. “Had I known that you two were going to actually come to an agreement on curtains I wouldn’t have suggested we put it to a vote. Furthermore, these don’t come with a rod so I’m trying to determine if they will fit the ones we already have so that way the whole thing doesn’t come crashing down on us in the middle of the night.”

He and Nico groaned in unison this time. Percy looks at Annabeth with a pleading expression, “Yeah but you’ve been trying to figure that out for, like, twenty minutes. We’re _hungry_ , Annabeth.”

Annabeth looks at them like she’s wondering if the sex is worth how aggravating she currently finds them.

Percy dregs up his best puppy dog look, not that he really knows what he does besides widen his eyes, and says, “Look, if it comes down on us in the middle of the night, you can tell us you told us so and then sit back and laugh as we try to put it back up again.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Percy sees Nico nod vigorously. Annabeth sighs and Percy smiles.

“Fine,” Annabeth says, “but if you two really end up having to fix it, I won’t stop Clarisse from filming it and sending it to everyone we know.”

Nico lets out a quiet, “Yes!” and Percy says “Deal! Now can we please buy these so we can go eat?”

Annabeth rolls her eyes, but they get food right after that. 

Relationships are about give and take, an advice column Percy once read stated, so after they get home Percy and Nico make sure to do their share of giving.

………………………………………

They’re in the kitchen one night, Annabeth cooking dinner while Percy watches. Nico’s napping in their room after pulling an all-nighter to finish an essay for his horror cinema class then working a short shift. It’s just the three of them in the apartment; Clarisse and Chris are out west visiting her mom. 

They’ve got the windows open to let a little breeze in so the kitchen doesn’t get too hot and someone else’s music is filtering in with surprising clarity. 

Percy’s day went: good grade on a test he’d studied his ass off for, met his mom for lunch, had enough time in between to go down to the Hudson and talk shit with the river god. All in all, not a bad day. It’s a beautiful night and Annabeth’s hair is glowing in the kitchen light. 

Percy is so in love with her he can’t stand it.

He remembers standing before the gods absolutely terrified that Annabeth was about to become a Hunter of Artemis and leave him forever. He remembers all the times they’ve fought side by side, the time she protected his one weak spot even without knowing where it was. He remembers every moment with her in Tartarus.

Percy remembers every time he made her laugh. Every time she called him Seaweed Brain. Kissing her in a bubble at the bottom of the lake. When they both got their acceptances to NYU. The day he asked her to get a place with him.

He feels very much in love and just like that, the music changes to one of their favorite songs. Normally this kind of godly intervention pisses him off but Annabeth whirls around with a broad smile so he’ll forgive it this time. He gets up and pulls her into his arms, making her laugh.

“Percy, what are you doing?” she asks as they start to sway.

“Come on, Wise Girl, I know you can figure it out,” he says instead of answering.

Annabeth rolls her eyes at him but leans into his arms anyway. 

They slowly make their way around the tiny kitchen, just swaying in circles. It starts off slow, then gets faster so Percy starts spinning Annabeth faster and she keeps in time with him. He spins her from one arm to another.

Nico appears in the doorway just as Percy’s twirling Annabeth back into his arms. His hair’s sticking up and he still looks like he needs more sleep.

“Hey, Nico,” Annabeth says, “come dance with us.”

He blinks at the two of them, then after a moment shakes his head and says, “You guys are nuts, I’m going back to bed.”

“Party pooper,” Percy calls to his retreating back.

Percy dips Annabeth low and murmurs against her lips, “More fun for us.”

She grins up at him.

………………………………

Percy and Nico are in the bedroom with various books and notebooks spread out around them. Nico is on the bed on his stomach writing a paper while alternately texting with Hazel. Percy’s on the floor by Nico’s head, he’s got reading for class by his feet and is balancing his notebook on his knee. There’s a highlighter missing its cap in dangerous proximity to the carpet. Percy’s laptop is a couple feet away playing music, with Nico humming along absentmindedly.

Percy just finishes the first chapter of his reading when Nico stretches and sighs above him. 

“Almost done, babe?” Percy asks, tilting his head back and grinning at Nico’s immediate blush.

He hums in response, “Yeah, I think I might be done for the night. It’s not due for another couple days anyway. How about you?”

“I finished my reading for my urban environments class and did some of my readings for my World War Two class, but I could use a break.”

Nico gives him a sly smile, “I think I know just how we can spend that break.”

Percy grins and turns around, burying a hand in Nico’s hair. 

“Oh do you now,” he murmurs against Nico’s mouth.

Percy kisses Nico hard, causing him to rock back on the bed. Nico gives as good as he gets, surging forward and clutching Percy’s shoulders. Ebb and pull, like the tide. 

They’re not even breathing heavily when they hear the key in the lock and Annabeth’s voice muttering to herself. They both grin into the next kiss, but neither pulls away to greet her. 

They keep kissing even as they hear footsteps coming closer. The door opens and Percy can see her out of the corner of his eye. She grins and leans against the doorway.

“Studying hard, I see.”

Nico breaks the kiss and Percy takes the opening to suck a hickey onto Nico’s neck. He takes a shaky breath and closes his eyes, train of thought completely gone.

Percy detaches himself from Nico and turns his heated gaze on Annabeth. “We study when it’s important, and you’re our favorite subject. Get over here and we’ll show you what we know.”

She rolls her eyes, but grins and walks into the room, pulling Percy onto the bed. Nico yells about his laptop and they laugh at him. Percy kisses her hello as Nico makes sure it’s safely on the floor. 

Annabeth leans over him to grab Nico in for a kiss. Percy watches them, loving and anticipatory all at once. Life didn’t turn out the way he thought it would at twelve — it’s so much stranger for sure, but there’s a lot more love in it as well.


End file.
